Late reinnervation of the rat soleus muscle is differentially suppressed by chronic stimulation and by ectopic innervation

Soleus (SOL) and extensor digitorum longus (EDL) muscles in adult rats were kept denervated for 2 months by four repeated freezes at 2-week intervals of the sciatic nerve. Reinnervation was studied in the absence or presence of chronic muscle stimulation, starting 1 month before reinnervation began. In addition, reinnervation was studied in SOL muscles where a previously transplanted fibular (FIB) nerve had formed ectopic neuromuscular junctions outside the original endplate area. After repeated freezes only, reinnervation was complete judged by tension measurements and histochemical examinations in SOL (n = 7) and EDL (n = 8) muscles. In directly stimulated muscles reinnervation was incomplete, and the force tensions evoked from indirect stimulation was on average 87 (n = 5) and 82% (n = 5) of direct muscle stimulation in SOL and EDL muscles, respectively. Of ectopically innervated SOL muscle fibres, only 26% became reinnervated in 12 muscles. Denervation and reinnervation increased the number of muscle fibres in stimulated (n = 4) and unstimulated (n = 5) EDL muscles by 18 and 15%, respectively. In stimulated (n = 4) and unstimulated (n = 7) SOL muscles, on the other hand, the number of muscle fibres remained normal. The stronger suppression of reinnervation in ectopically reinnervated compared to chronically stimulated SOL fibres indicates that reinnervation can also be suppressed by activity independent influences from the foreign nerve.